Ontario Operator Fined for Illegal Dredging

A Timmins, Ontario-area campground has been fined for dredging shorelands without a work permit, The Daily Press reported.

Big Water Campgrounds Inc. pleaded guilty and was fined $2,000. The company was also ordered by the court to restore the area according to the terms of a Ministry of Natural Resources work permit.

The court heard that on July 11, 2010, a Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer inspected the shoreline at Bigwater Lake in Murphy Township, north of Timmins. The officer discovered a lagoon had been dredged next to the Big Water Campgrounds to allow rental boats to be docked.

Further investigation determined that Big Water Campgrounds Inc. used a backhoe to dredge the lagoon in the late winter of 2010. The work was done without a work permit.

Justice of the Peace Theodore Hodgins heard the case in Timmins provincial court on Feb. 17.